"Stop him!" The man might have done so, but he did not stir; and "Stop him ?" the sot answered, his hand on the door.

"Not--two of you--will stop him! Now, then! Savoy, indeed! On the wall?
I'll show you!" He let the door go, and reeled three paces into the darkness outside, waving his hands as if he drove chickens.

"Savoy! Savoy!" he cried; but whether in drunken bravado, in derision, or in pure disbelief, God only knows! For the word had barely passed his lips the second time before a gurgling scream followed, freezing the hearts of the two listeners; and, before the second guard could close the door or move from his place on the hearth, four men sprang in out of the darkness, and bore him back.
Before he had struck a blow they had pinned him against the wall.
Claude owed his escape to his position behind the door.

They did not see him as they sprang in, intent on the one they did see.

He knew resistance to be futile, and a bound carried him into the darkness of the cork-screw staircase.